From 8 May, the hospitality sector in Belgium can re-open its terraces, the coronavirus situation permitting, the Consultative Committee announced on Wednesday.
This is just over three weeks away, but the brewing process of a pint can take up to four to six weeks. However, brewer AB Inbev has told Het Nieuwsblad there will be 20 million beers on 8 May.
“The biggest job now is the cleanup, ensuring that our 9,000 pubs are completely ready: since 1 April, we have been sending out teams to clean the pipes everywhere. The barrels that would have expired and are still in the pubs, we will also take away for free,” said Laure Stuyck, spokesperson for AB Inbev.
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Alken-Maes had already set 1 May as its target date "to be fully operational", whilst beer breweries Bavik and Bockor said that they have chilled one million and 800,000 pints, respectively.
"After lager has been brewed, it needs to spend three weeks in a very large lagering tank," Nicolas Degryse told the newspaper about the Bockor beer.
"But you can also leave it there for four or five weeks. The timing for this is pretty flexible."
Lauren Walker
The Brussels Times
